My writing is influenced by a rich diversity of people, places and experiences. Coupled to this is a love of music, art, and the written word, and my constant need to create.

I was brought up on an orchard in Donnybrook in the South West of Western Australia. As a young adult, I worked overseas in London on and off for nearly six years. During that time, the desire for adventure took me to many (often perilous) places as far afield as Moscow and Marrakech, Samoa and San Antonio.

In my thirties I spent four years of early motherhood in the Riverina District of New South Wales widening my understanding and appreciation of rural Australia.

It was not until later, while bringing up four children and studying music and English literature part-time at the University of Western Australia, that I resurrected my long-lost desire to write, finally graduating in 2000 with First Class Honours in Creative Writing.

I went on to do a PhD in Writing at Edith Cowan University, after being awarded a postgraduate scholarship. My thesis, a novel and exegesis, earned me the Dean’s prize in 2008.

In 2009 I was awarded a writing residency at Varuna, a writers’ retreat in the Blue Mountains near Sydney.

My debut novel, Finding Jasper, was published by Margaret River Press in 2012. In 2013, it was long listed for the 2013 Dobbie Award.

My latest book is a biographical novel based on the life of my great-great grand aunt, leading Australian suffragist, Henrietta Augusta Dugdale.

For many years I have lived in Perth in an old Federation house. Occasionally I travel to exciting, out-of-the-way places, but still enjoy retreating to the natural beauty of the South West with my husband whenever I can.